Controlling Notifications and Pop-up Ads

Do you ever wonder why the corner of your computer is constantly flashing with “notifications”?

You have control over what will be interrupting your work. Both in Apple and non-Apple world. For purposes of this posting, I will be using non-Apple examples, but their systems work very similarly.

To start, go to the search field on your taskbar and type “Notifications”. You want to select “Notifications and Actions”. On the pop-up menu, review the settings and make sure that only have turned on stuff that you want to know about. As you scroll down you will see a list of applications typically sorted by most recent. Change the order to name and start going through the list. Most likely you will not have enough time to do them all at one time….so pick a specific letter of the alphabet to stop on a do a few every day. Pretty soon you will be through the list. When you are done, I recommend putting it back to recent order.

You have the option of on or off and if you click the right side chevron you can even be more specific. This does NOT disable the application. It only prevents it from popping up in the corner. Typically, I like email and nothing else to pop in the corner.

The 2nd pop-up source is your internet browsers. If you have more than one, start with whichever one you are using the most. You will have to do this task on each one. Each browser is different, but everyone one of them has a setting for notifications and a list of websites that have permission to disturb you. This is a common tool used by various forms of malware. The most common one is a pop-up that says it is from a popular antivirus program, and you need to click on it to respond to a problem. You are actually not opening your antivirus program on your computer but a website that looks like it, and they are getting you to give them permission to install viruses on your computer disguised as help.

If this is happening, I HIGHLY recommend you have a “geek” help walk you through how to remove the permissions, make sure they didn’t install something, and run a stinger to make sure your computer is safe. This is something I can help with and if you want, I will even walk you through the steps so you don’t have to call me each type it happens. Text, email, call or use the “contact me” on the top right of this website to request my assistance.

Copy and Paste Options

In the Windows environment, we have the Paste Options (historically known as Paste Special) feature. Apple has a similar function, but all the examples/how to information in this post will be Windows based.

Paste Special is a really powerful tool that will help keep your sanity. When we select text, a picture, or really anything a chose to copy it…..we are getting whatever the human eye cannot see as well. Typically, this is only formatting, but it could be a virus, for example when you are copying from a public location like a website. Even if it is formatting, most of the time you do NOT want to bring it to your destination file, email, etc….

Ever spent a lot of time changing something you copied into the format of all the other stuff in your document or presentation? If you had chosen Paste Special — text only or no formatting — then you would automatically keep the formatting of your file. This is why some people can put together a presentation that looks really cohesive and others look like someone grabbed every font, color, or formatting option.

Best Practices

  • Use Paste Special — no formatting, text only, image only, etc… most of the time. Yes, this means that you can still use Ctrl + C for copy but when you use Ctrl + V…click on the very little icon that appears at the end of your paste. This will let you decide how you want to paste it. If you use right click copy and then right click paste, that option shows automatically.
  • Only copy exactly what you want — this means no extra spaces before or after. It is very frustrating when someone creates something like a spreadsheet or word processing document with sloppy copy and paste technique. It causes issues when attempting to use any automatic tools like Mail Merge, and users spend a lot of time removing the extra spaces.
  • Paste as an “image” if you want to ensure it looks exactly like it did at the source. This means someone cannot select it as text, even if it looks like text to the human eye but keeps the formatting of your new file from impacting how it appears.

Cell Phone — Organizing Screens

Do you have way too many icons on your phone screens? They can easily be organized. Here are some best practices and tips:

  • You can have more than one “home” screen. Most people should NOT have more than 3. Most phone models will create a new/additional screen simply by clicking on an existing icon, hold onto that click and drag it/move it to your home screen, now drag it to the right off the screen. This will generate a new or blank screen to drop the icon. If you have more than one screen, this is how you move icons to different screens.
  • Do not put EVERY icon on a home screen. If you only use something once in a great while, it doesn’t need to be on a home screen. Most models, when you swipe upwards OR hit a dedicated button at the button will open a list of everything install organized alphabetically.
  • The first home page or default page that opens when you unlock your phone should be the items you access all the time. Most phones have 3 to 5 icons at the very bottom that show on all home screens. For most of us these are the phone icon, text message icon, email icon, and/or calendar icon.
  • Icons should be organized into groups of similar apps. For example, my default home screen is frequent stuff, my 2nd home screen is work or business stuff, and my 3rd home screen is personal stuff.
  • On a home screen, a single icon can be a folder with multiple icons grouped together. This, for example, is the default configuration of Google apps. I personally don’t like having all my Google apps in one spot. Most of us want to pull out a couple of the frequently used ones and put them directly on the home screen (i.e., not within a folder).
  • To create a folder icon, just drag one icon on top of another. When you let go, a folder icon will appear with both icons inside. Drag additional icons on top of the folder to add them to the folder. To move an icon out of the folder, you open the folder, then drag just the one icon out of the folder. Clicking on the folder icon name allows you to change it or add one if the phone did not automatically generate a name.
  • If I don’t have enough icons to justify having a home page just for something like work stuff. I might make a folder called work and move all the work related apps inside it.
  • You do not need to fill all the spaces on a screen. Leaving some “white space” allows your eye to more easily see the relationships of stuff. This makes it much easier to find an icon.
  • Install an app that functions like a File Explorer on Windows or the Finder feature on a Mac.
  • Files and websites can be added to a home screen with an icon. Every model does is differently, so give me a call if you need help figuring out how to do it on your specific phone model.
  • There are LOTS of free apps but know who is your app author and understand nothing is really free even if it doesn’t cost money. For example, most of us do not want to install an app owned and operated by the Chinese government because of privacy concerns. In China, the government basically has unlimited access to company data. Many apps pay for themselves by using your activity and selling it. They protect your identity individually but sell large chucks of user data to 3rd parties. For example, this is why Facebook doesn’t charge you for creating a profile and using the app to socialize with friends and family. They turn around and will sell the data (in bulk and without individual names/identities) to companies looking for information. For example, if I am a boot maker, I want to know what is the average age and sex of people looking up information about boots. They also let companies buy ads for targeted audiences. For example, a realtor will pay for an ad on Facebook to ONLY go to people in within X miles of a certain location and who have a history of interest in homes or apartments. Most of us consider it a fair trade for getting to use the app at no $$$$ charge.

Give me a call and while I most likely need to be in person, I don’t mind helping you use these mini computers effectively that we call “smartphones”.

Laptop/Desktop/Cell Phone Security

The cyber world is a pretty scary place at times. The reality is that in the USA we are considered a high value targets for various political and financial reasons. Bad guys and gals who write viruses, specifically design them to impact applications and hardware found by USA users. Let me explain some basic threats and how to minimize your risk WITHOUT having to stop using technology.

First – Passwords. If your password is so complicated you cannot remember it, you have to use the “forgot password” feature often, you are using the same password for multiple applications/websites, etc… then what you are doing is NOT working. Here are some basic best practices when making a password.

  • Make it at least 8 characters long
  • Do NOT start with a number or special character
  • Have at least one capital letter and one lower case letter
  • Include numbers and a special character (@, #, $, % ,&, !, ?, etc….)
  • Do NOT reuse passwords on multiple websites/applications
  • Do NOT make it so complicated you cannot remember it
  • Do not have your computer/website “auto remember” your passwords UNLESS you only work in a secured environment (i.e. don’t use multiple computers, not connecting at places via public Wi-Fi like Starbucks or an airport, etc…..).
  • Have someplace you write it done (assuming you are not working for a high-end security situation) that is NOT easily lost, is readily accessible when you are using your computer but not under your keyboard, and not in a file call “passwords” or “really important stuff”.

Ok now I know what you are thinking. That there is NO WAY to follow all those rules. That is not true. Give me a call and I promise you using my “password philosophy” concept I promise you can do all of those without hurting your brain. If you want to use a password manager, do not go cheap. There is NOTHING more frustrating than your manager getting hacked and now everything is compromised or if it is not user-friendly.

Firewalls/Antivirus. If you are running a small business or have financial information (i.e. login to your bank or credit card account), you need to have a firewall and antivirus application. Windows, Android, iPhones, and Macs all have some basic security, but you get what you pay for. The free stuff is not as good as even the very inexpensive major players like McAfee and Norton. You need it installed on all your devices, including your cell phone. Give me a call if you want some help figuring out the best solution that will not break the bank.

Backup. Data storage is cheap. If you do not work in an industry that has special security requirements (ex. HIPAA) you need to select a cloud storage option. Window, Apple, and Android all have various solutions that can run in the background and automatically back up your data. I HIGHLY recommend you check them once a month to make sure they are working. There are viruses and various other reasons that the backup stops working, and you don’t realize you have a problem until you require it (i.e., hard drive crash) and the backup has nothing from the last year. I recommend a reminder on the 1st of the month for checking your backup (1 cell phone and 1 or 2 computers can be done in about 5 minutes). Give me a call and I can get one setup and show you how to “check it”. If you need one with extra security requirements, I can help you find that solution too.

Data Best Practices. You need to store your data in a way that makes it easy to dump old stuff you don’t need once a year, find stuff you use daily quickly, and not be so complicated that someone cannot understand your filing system at a glance. Give me a call and I can help you set up your folders and file names in ways that will keep your head from hurting even when you have a lot of files.